Andres125sx wrote:Sorry Phil, but you keep ignoring that was his 4th season in red, past season he drove the best season of his career (according to his own words) and that was not enough to win the title, and that´s basic to understand Alonso behaviour and decisions.
I wasn't ignoring anything - in fact, the points you are picking apart and focusing on are part of a much larger picture - a picture starting from his troubled 2007 season at McLaren right up to the current one.
No one is disputing his on-track ability to drive consistently and to get most of the potential out of the cars he has driven. My posts are focusing on his perceived character, his work-ethos and what in the seasons from 2007 to current led to the fact that he has only got 2 WDC titles to his name.
It starts with season 2007, where he evidently was frustrated and bitter at how the season was unfolding. I'm not saying that it was by his own doing that resulted in the fallout with McLaren, but no matter how bad it was,
he could have handled himself better. He could have stayed focus, perhaps perform better and maybe that 2007 season would have unfolded differently. Turned out the animosity that unfolded and he did contribute his part led to blackmail and later spygate as well as also to an unworkable situation between him and the team and ultimately him having to leave it.
Think about this for a moment. If that relationship had stayed intact, even losing 2007 to Lewis, he could/would have remained at McLaren as the more experienced double WDC and in 2008 have the best opportunities again to add another WDC.
It didn't and he went back to Renault - a struggling team at the time - only to watch his former team-mate secure the 2008 championship for McLaren. My point is that that 2007 season was damaging and would later unfold to be distinctive in how the rest unfolded.
Okay, he joined the Scuderia in arguably one of their best seasons since 2008 when he was leading the championship right up to that very last race when Ferrari had it in their own hands. Vettel clinched it and that was it. I suppose 2010 and 2012 were simply bad luck. Certainly there was nothing in Alonso's driving that can be criticized - there was no other driver who drove more consistent during those two seasons.
But the frustration of not winning and perhaps partly of his own character lead to limited options when realizing that Ferrari would be the wrong team to attempt to win the WDC again. In 2012 when Niki approached Hamilton, Alonso was probably a probability too, but he was already well settled at Ferrari and perhaps due to his age and the contract situation, Hamilton was pursued rather than Alonso. Such is life.
Whatever happened to Alonso, I see him now as a very bitterly frustrated driver. This became evident last year in the Japanese GP and IMO that outburst was unacceptable. He knew it the moment he signed for McLaren (baring in mind he had no other place to go, no other top team that was willing to take him) that that would be a long-term project. And the key thing is; in order to achieve anything with McLaren, the car needs to work and for that, the partnership between the team and Honda is crucial. You do not, as the leading experienced 'best-driver-on-the-grid' embarrass your team and the company (Honda) who is paying your salary the way he did. He humiliated them and that is a big no-go for a Japanese company at their home grandprix.
This is where I see drivers like Ricciardo, Vettel and Button as drivers who have a positive influence on their teams. Keep their heads low and work with the team to better your position. As a Hamilton fan, he too needed to learn a lot. During the seasons at McLaren, it showed a greater difference between how a persona like Button created a nice, positive place that allowed him to perform at his best, while Hamilton seemed frustrated, troubled and bitter. That too led to him leaving the team as that relationship too broke down.
Montezemolo said "no driver is bigger than Ferrari". It IMO shows some of the deeper issues that led to Ferrari's struggles and that of Alonso and their working relationship. Compare that to Vettel, who came off a difficult season being beaten by Ricciardo, into a new team with that amount of energy and positiveness. That is exactly what Ferrari needed and even though I am anything but a Vettel supporter, I see the both of them doing very well in the future. Will it be enough to win further titles? That depends on their technical ability, but I certainly see them on the right track - something I didn't see while Alonso was there. Even way back in 2010 or especially after, I could see frustrations in that team building...
